Explain how a raindrop forms through the Bergeron process. How does it differ from the collision-coalescence process?
What will be an ideal response?
The Bergeron process occurs in a cold cloud that contains both ice crystals and supercooled liquid droplets. Next to the ice crystals, the saturation vapor pressure is lower because the water molecules in ice crystals are so tightly bonded that is difficult for them to escape. Comparatively, it is easier for water molecules to evaporate from the supercooled, but still liquid, droplets. Once evaporated, the water vapor molecules cause the air to be supersaturated with respect to the ice crystals. Supersaturation forces the molecules of vapor to deposit onto the ice crystals, causing them to grow. Eventually, the supercooled droplets sink and the ice crystal grows large enough to fall from the cloud. If it encounters a warmer layer of air as it falls to the ground, it will melt and become a raindrop.
In CC, the cloud is warm and so no ice crystals are present. Droplets grow larger through collisions that cause them to merge with other droplets.
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